MT. PLEASANT– Central Michigan University has announced that effective this fall, recognized student organizations which are political in nature will no longer be obligated to adhere to the non-discrimination policies of the university.
Current rules exempt only religious organizations, but beginning this fall political or belief oriented organizations will be exempt under a new policy announced last week.
Dennis Lennox, the head of CMU's Young Americans for Freedom, contacted the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, after he said some tried to overthrow his organization. FIRE wrote a letter to CMU on March 16, according to the CMU Life, the university newspaper. A spokesperson for FIRE says Lennox contacted them because students were coming to the YAF meetings and "disrupting" them.
CMU officials told the newspaper they decided on the policy change because of the concerns about freedom of association, which courts have been ruling on recently.
Michigan State University's YAF celebrated the announcement on their blog by announcing CMU YAF was allowed to discriminate.
CMU to exempt political groups from non-discrimination policies
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